While a lot of the House Progressives are threatening to kill the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework Bill being pushed by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D. WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D. AZ), unless it is passed with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, or the Build Back Better plan, it sounds like more moderates in the House aren’t in favor of decoupling these bills. Need proof? Here’s moderate Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate, Rep. Conor Lamb (D. PA-17):
For the record, Lamb has always been very supportive of the Build Back Better plan:
It makes sense because he worked closely with Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D. WA-07) on this:
While the tensions between House liberals and moderates have reached a fever pitch, Jayapal has tried to build a good relationship with centrists throughout the year.
Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) said he became close with Jayapal as he and other Democrats from across the ideological spectrum worked together to draft compromise legislation to expand Medicare benefits.
“I think that that has been her biggest strength with this issue and others that I’ve seen is her willingness to step outside of the categories of progressive versus moderate and just say, let’s assemble the biggest team that we can on this issue, and try to drive it forward,” he said.
Rep. Susan Wild, a moderate Democrat from Pennsylvania, grew close with Jayapal under more trying circumstances. Both women were locked in the House chamber balconies along with several other Democrats as a mob of Trump supporters tried to force their way onto the floor during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
On Jan. 7, Jayapal created a Signal chain to include all the people who huddled together in the balcony that day and has since planned several therapy sessions for the group to process the trauma.
Let’s keep up the pressure on Manchin and Sinema. If you are their constituents, click below to contact them here:
Joe Manchin
Kyrsten Sinema
Also, click below to contact your Democratic Rep know you don’t support a vote on BIF without BBB. Click here to contact your Democratic Rep.